Keep your cat entertained with an automated laser tower

Arduino Team — October 6th, 2016

As any cat owner can tell you, our feline friends love chasing the uncatchable dot of a laser pointer. Unfortunately, though, there is only so much time in the day that you can spend playing with them and catering to their natural instincts… so why not automate the process?

This is exactly what La Fabrique DIY decided to do using an Arduino Uno, two servos, a pan/tilt camera mount, and an Altoids tin to house the electronics. With some programming, the tower moves the laser “pseudo-randomly” to mimic the behavior of an insect.

Actually many _responsible_ cat owners (and pet lovers in general) will tell you that making your pet play with an uncatchable toy is not funny. It’s frustrating: they cannot touch it (that’s how they know they caught it) and, despite the hard work chasing it, it keeps escaping.